Skype outage caused by Microsoft update

[Sporkman]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/...skype_outage_9

Skype outage caused by Microsoft update

By MATT MOORE, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 5 minutes ago

FRANKFURT, Germany - A two-day outage that left millions of Skype users unable to use the popular Internet phone service was caused by an abnormally high number of restarts after people had downloaded a Windows security update, the company said Monday.

The worldwide outage, which began on Thursday and ended on Saturday, left millions of Skype users unable to log on to make phone calls or send instant messages.

Luxembourg-based Skype Ltd., part of online auction giant eBay Inc., has more than 220 million users in total but typically has 5 million to 6 million users online at any given time. In January, Skype reported that it had counted 9 million users online at one time.

In an update to users on Skype's Heartbeat blog, employee Villu Arak said the disruption was not because of hackers or any other malicious activity.

Instead, he said that the disruption "was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update," Arak wrote.

Microsoft Corp. released its monthly patches last Tuesday, and many computers are set to automatically download and install them. Installation requires a computer restart.

"The high number of restarts affected Skype's network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact," Arak wrote.

Arak did not blame Microsoft for the troubles and said the outage ultimately rested with Skype. Arak said Skype's network normally has an ability to heal itself in such cases, but a previously unknown glitch in Skype's software prevented that from occurring quickly enough.

Users from Vietnam to Brazil to Germany to the United States had complained they could not log on and make phone calls or send instant messages.

The outage was a critical moment for the company, founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, and was the first major outage since October 2005 when its service was down only for a few hours.

"This disruption was unprecedented in terms of its impact and scope," Arak wrote. "We would like to point out that very few technologies or communications networks today are guaranteed to operate without interruptions."

[FuturePilot]

Ah, the comfort knowing that you don't need to reboot Linux after installing updates.

[Depressed Man]

Don't know if it was Ubuntu itself or the software. But I have been requested by the system to restart after updating itself. Granted it's much rarer then Windows (it seems nearly all updates besides spyware definitions for Windows Defender requires restarting).

[FuturePilot]

Don't know if it was Ubuntu itself or the software. But I have been requested by the system to restart after updating itself. Granted it's much rarer then Windows (it seems nearly all updates besides spyware definitions for Windows Defender requires restarting).

That only happens when there is a kernel update. 99% of the time you don't need to reboot after updates.

[Depressed Man]

Ah ok, that explains it, thanks!

[Martje_001]

Or if a video-card drives is being installed.

[a12ctic]

Or if a video-card drives is being installed.

Uhm? That just requires you restart X

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Ubuntu's request to you to reboot after updating is much more pleasant, anyway. Just one message and a button in the notification area. It doesn't hound you for the entire time as though the world will end if you don't start running the new kernel. It just lets you know, and that's that.

Windows, on the other hand, always insists to be restarted and does so in the most irritating and obtrusive way possible. A big dialog box, with way too many options under it, and if I recall correctly, if you don't act on it in time it will just restart for you.
The updater is definitely one of Ubuntu's best features. The spread out updates, instead of one enormous update on the first Tuesday, is also a great thing; it gives me some confidence that I am running a system with up to date security.

[FuturePilot]

And sometimes Windows will automatically reboot your computer.
I've seen it before. "Windows will automatically reboot in 5 minuets."

[Sporkman]

And sometimes Windows will automatically reboot your computer.
I've seen it before. "Windows will automatically reboot in 5 minuets."

Insult to injury. Yet another reminder that when you run Windows, you don't really "own" your computer, you're just a "user".